News

30th April 2019

We present an update below of our studies for which we have sought your participation:

Cytogenetic and genetic assessment of British nuclear test veterans and their families

The aim of this study is to determine whether the participation of British military personnel in nuclear tests has produced a genetic legacy for these veterans and their families. If the veterans were exposed to ionising radiation as a consequence of their military service then chromosomal markers consistent with such exposures may still be detectable in cells of their peripheral blood. Additionally if the DNA of their children has been altered then we should be able to identify these changes using whole genome sequence analysis and a variety of cytogenetic techniques. If no genetic differences are seen in comparison to a control group, then this will be useful knowledge for the nuclear community.

In January this year, we received the ethical and legal go-ahead to recruit veteran family trios (father, mother and child) for the study. Please refer to the diagram here to see our recruitment process. Since January, we have sent 3617 study invitations to GP practices. We are pleased to report that we have now reached our recruitment target for nuclear test veteran couples and are progressing to move all families through the lengthy recruitment process.

Blood samples are being received (the first sample arrived on 14th February 2018) and are being processed in the laboratory for the analytical assessments being undertaken. These assessments are another major phase of our project. The tests are being performed in an anonymised manner; i.e. the scientists do not know whether the individual family has any association with nuclear tests. It is only once all the analysis has been completed that we can begin to de-anonymise and use statistical tests to examine if there are any differences between test veteran and control family groups.

Sport, Culture & Wellbeing: Community approaches to promote the wellbeing of British Nuclear Test Veterans and their families: Amy Prescott (PhD student)

This research project aims to understand how community sport and cultural activities may help and contribute to improving the health and wellbeing of British nuclear test veterans and their families.

Amy’s project has three distinct phases. Phase 1 involves the recruitment of volunteers to participate; Phase 2 is principally focussed upon data collection while Phase 3 aims to co-design community projects.

Amy has progressed well with Phase 1 and has formally consented 30 people for her study. She achieved this by advertising details of her project to ~950 members of the nuclear community and communicating the various legal and ethical documentations necessary between those who responded. Amy started Phase 2 of the project involving collection of data in November 2018 and by March 2019 had completed telephone interviews with 23 of these volunteers, each call lasting ~45 minutes. Amy will soon be sending out further letters to all participants informing them of how the next stage of data collection, which involves more in-depth face-to-face interviews, will proceed.

The aim of this study is to examine factors associated with an important aspect of healthy ageing and quality of life, namely cognitive functioning. Cognitive functioning is the ability to perform everyday mental tasks such as thinking, reasoning and remembering.

In May 2018 George started his project with a focus group involving six test veterans and two test veteran wives who helped in the development of a proposed ‘exposure worry’ scale. During August 2018, George held telephone discussions with a handful of test-veterans to gain further insight into the design and content of this proposed scale. This was then followed up with a larger test for reliability in September and December 2018 gaining feedback from 120 respondents.

George has now moved on to the next stage of his project. Between January and March 2019, George sent out around 240 research packs and has thus far had over 90 short questionnaires returned. He is now conducting the cognitive assessments with participants by undertaking short (10 minute) telephone interviews and will move on the more in-depth interviews in due course.

Recruitment update for the genetic and cytogenetic assessment

Inviting and recruiting British nuclear test veteran families, plus control families, to CHRC’s ‘Genetic and cytogenetic Study’ is a process that takes time to get right.

In January this year, we had the go-ahead to start sending out invitation packages to veteran couples via their GP. Once couples respond, there are many screening and interviewing steps we need to do, so that we only include consenting, eligible individuals in our study. The multi-step process is shown in a diagram here.

This process has been designed this way, along standard and rigorous scientific principles, so that the study is as fair as possible, limiting bias which might otherwise mean the study’s findings aren’t as strong as they must be.

We have now reached the milestone of 50% of our recruitment target. Our target is for 100 family trios – each trio being a biologically related group of father, mother and child – split evenly between nuclear test veteran families and control families. We are also regularly receiving blood from those family trios who have reached the end of our multi-step recruitment process.

We have already started the genetic and cytogenetic testing of blood samples, so analysis is well underway. In the meantime, families continue to move through our recruitment process. It is time-consuming and involves a good deal of effort, so it is rewarding to see, week by week, more blood samples arriving at our labs.

This recruitment rate is in line with our expectations, and we will provide an update when we have hit 100% of our target.

Exposure: The new magazine for the British Nuclear Test Community is coming soon. Find out more here.

11th April 2018

In response to the Sunday Mirror article published on 8th April 2018

A news article published by the Sunday Mirror in April 2018 claims that the Nuclear Community Charity Fund Genetic Study is having difficulty finding enough families to take part in their study.

In fact, the study team are making steady progress with recruitment, as veterans are invited to take part in a continuous flow, with many invited veterans and their families now progressing through the various stages of the study (eligibility, consent, interview) prior to the blood sampling stage at the end.

The study team would like to thank all participating families for their support of the study and are grateful for all replies from respondents who have been invited to participate in the study via their GP practice. Unfortunately, the study team are unable to accept volunteers for the study due to the bias that this may create, but would appeal to veterans who have been sent a letter from their GP practice to respond to the study team if they think they might be eligible to take part.